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  <section id="ctest-start">
<span id="command:ctest_start"></span><h1>ctest_start<a class="headerlink" href="#ctest-start" title="Permalink to this heading">¶</a></h1>
<p>Starts the testing for a given model</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="nv">&lt;model&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nv">&lt;source&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nv">&lt;binary&gt;</span><span class="p">]]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;group&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">QUIET</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="nf">)</span>

<span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nv">&lt;model&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nv">&lt;source&gt;</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="nv">&lt;binary&gt;</span><span class="p">]]]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nv">&lt;group&gt;</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">APPEND</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="p">[</span><span class="no">QUIET</span><span class="p">]</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Starts the testing for a given model.  The command should be called
after the binary directory is initialized.</p>
<p>The parameters are as follows:</p>
<dl>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;model&gt;</span></code></dt><dd><p>Set the dashboard model. Must be one of <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Experimental</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Continuous</span></code>, or
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Nightly</span></code>. This parameter is required unless <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">APPEND</span></code> is specified.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;source&gt;</span></code></dt><dd><p>Set the source directory. If not specified, the value of
<span class="target" id="index-0-variable:CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../variable/CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY.html#variable:CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY" title="CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY"><code class="xref cmake cmake-variable docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CTEST_SOURCE_DIRECTORY</span></code></a> is used instead.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;binary&gt;</span></code></dt><dd><p>Set the binary directory. If not specified, the value of
<span class="target" id="index-0-variable:CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../variable/CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY.html#variable:CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY" title="CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY"><code class="xref cmake cmake-variable docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CTEST_BINARY_DIRECTORY</span></code></a> is used instead.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GROUP</span> <span class="pre">&lt;group&gt;</span></code></dt><dd><p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GROUP</span></code> is used, the submissions will go to the specified group on the
CDash server. If no <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GROUP</span></code> is specified, the name of the model is used by
default.</p>
<div class="versionchanged">
<p><span class="versionmodified changed">Changed in version 3.16: </span>This replaces the deprecated option <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TRACK</span></code>. Despite the name
change its behavior is unchanged.</p>
</div>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">APPEND</span></code></dt><dd><p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">APPEND</span></code> is used, the existing <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TAG</span></code> is used rather than creating a new
one based on the current time stamp. If you use <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">APPEND</span></code>, you can omit the
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;model&gt;</span></code> and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GROUP</span> <span class="pre">&lt;group&gt;</span></code> parameters, because they will be read from
the generated <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TAG</span></code> file. For example:</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="nb">Experimental</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">GroupExperimental</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>Later, in another <a class="reference internal" href="../manual/ctest.1.html#cmdoption-ctest-S"><code class="xref std std-option docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest</span> <span class="pre">-S</span></code></a> script:</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="no">APPEND</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>When the second script runs <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest_start(APPEND)</span></code>, it will read the
<code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">Experimental</span></code> model and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">GroupExperimental</span></code> group from the <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">TAG</span></code> file
generated by the first <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest_start()</span></code> command. Please note that if you
call <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest_start(APPEND)</span></code> and specify a different model or group than
in the first <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest_start()</span></code> command, a warning will be issued, and the
new model and group will be used.</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">QUIET</span></code></dt><dd><div class="versionadded">
<p><span class="versionmodified added">New in version 3.3.</span></p>
</div>
<p>If <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">QUIET</span></code> is used, CTest will suppress any non-error messages that it
otherwise would have printed to the console.</p>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>The parameters for <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">ctest_start()</span></code> can be issued in any order, with the
exception that <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;model&gt;</span></code>, <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;source&gt;</span></code>, and <code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">&lt;binary&gt;</span></code> have to appear
in that order with respect to each other. The following are all valid and
equivalent:</p>
<div class="highlight-cmake notranslate"><div class="highlight"><pre><span></span><span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="nb">Experimental</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/source</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/binary</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">SomeGroup</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">QUIET</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">APPEND</span><span class="nf">)</span>

<span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">SomeGroup</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">Experimental</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">QUIET</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/source</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">APPEND</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/binary</span><span class="nf">)</span>

<span class="nf">ctest_start(</span><span class="no">APPEND</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">QUIET</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">Experimental</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/source</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="no">GROUP</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="nb">SomeGroup</span><span class="w"> </span><span class="na">path/to/binary</span><span class="nf">)</span>
</pre></div>
</div>
<p>However, for the sake of readability, it is recommended that you order your
parameters in the order listed at the top of this page.</p>
<p>If the <span class="target" id="index-0-variable:CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../variable/CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND.html#variable:CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND" title="CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND"><code class="xref cmake cmake-variable docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CTEST_CHECKOUT_COMMAND</span></code></a> variable (or the
<span class="target" id="index-0-variable:CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT"></span><a class="reference internal" href="../variable/CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT.html#variable:CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT" title="CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT"><code class="xref cmake cmake-variable docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">CTEST_CVS_CHECKOUT</span></code></a> variable) is set, its content is treated as
command-line.  The command is invoked with the current working directory set
to the parent of the source directory, even if the source directory already
exists.  This can be used to create the source tree from a version control
repository.</p>
</section>


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